Military and Crime Reporting

Heather currently works at USNI News, covering personnel issues within the Navy and Marines, including COVID-19 vaccination.

Heather first started covering the military while working for the Frederick News-Post, where she covered Fort Detrick. She broke the news of the Army’s infectious disease lab being shut down by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for safety concerns. She then worked for The Capital in Annapolis, Maryland, as the military affairs reporter, a position made possible through Report for America. Her work focused on the Naval Academy and Fort George G. Meade.

Heather worked as a crime reporter for almost two years in Carroll County, Maryland. She covered daily crime, following cases from initial arrest to appearance in court. She also worked on in-depth pieces, focusing on domestic violence and drunken driving.

She covered the 2016 murder of a woman in New Windsor, one of the county’s town. In addition to murder coverage, Heather covered the trial of one of the co-conspirators charged in the woman’s death.

As a crime and courts reporter, Heather worked to establish sources within the local state’s attorney’s office, area defense attorney firms and within the seven police agencies. She went through a citizens police academy, which she reported on, which helped her garner more sources.

April 16, 2019 / Crime Reporting, Domestic Violence, Featured Clips, Health reporting, The Frederick News-Post

The child

Stephanie Furr sat in a jail cell as May turned to June in 2018. The charges against her included financially...
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April 15, 2019 / Crime Reporting, Domestic Violence, Featured Clips, Health reporting, The Frederick News-Post

The pattern

Monica Gabriel picked up the phone. On the other line was a private investigator looking into her ex-husband, a man...
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April 14, 2019 / Crime Reporting, Domestic Violence, Featured Clips, Health reporting, The Frederick News-Post

A Marriage Con: The Death

The phone rang at Patricia Gabriel’s home. A creditor was on the other end. They called to say Gabriel’s daughter,...
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March 25, 2019 / Crime Reporting, The Frederick News-Post

Sheriff’s office identifies Thurmont man killed in police-involved shooting

The Frederick County Sheriff’s Office has identified a 26-year-old man killed in an officer-involved shooting in Thurmont early Monday. The...
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February 26, 2019 / Crime Reporting, Health reporting, Science reporting, The Frederick News-Post

Study: Opioids factored into 16 fatal crashes in Frederick County over 10-year period

By Heather Mongilio and Jeremy Arias As opioid-related deaths continue to soar in Frederick County and across the state, the...
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February 10, 2019 / Crime Reporting, Domestic Violence, Featured Clips, Health reporting, The Frederick News-Post

For domestic violence survivors, protective orders bring sense of safety, but violations are often

By Heather Mongilio and Wyatt Massey Anne stood on one side of the courtroom, her ex-fiancé on the other. She...
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January 30, 2018 / Carroll County Times, Crime Reporting, Featured Clips

What Happened to Amy Metz?

On Jan. 24, 2016, Amy Metz and her husband, Michael, walked home from a viewing party at a neighbor's house....
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January 24, 2018 / Crime Reporting, Science reporting

Can You ‘Catch’ Violence?

The number of homicides in Baltimore exceeded 300 for the third year in a row. In Chicago, in October alone,...
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December 18, 2017 / Carroll County Times, Crime Reporting

Citizens Police Academy coverage

After four months on the job, I participated in the Carroll County Sheriff's Office and Carroll County State's Attorney's Office...
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December 17, 2017 / Carroll County Times, Crime Reporting

Man’s arrest leads to questions about GPS conduct

Joseph Guy McGuire was arrested in October after allegedly harassing a Manchester police officer. While defending him, the Public Defender's...
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